


there’s a light in the hallway (so you know i’m here)

by serenesapphic



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Meredith Grey - Freeform, Not Incest, Other, Race, Racism, Sisters, amelia and maggie, amelia shepherd - Freeform, lady chiefs, maggie pierce - Freeform, meredith amelia maggie, meredith and Amelia, meredith and maggie, seriously just sisters, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-01-05
Packaged: 2021-03-15 13:20:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28564173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serenesapphic/pseuds/serenesapphic
Summary: meredith, amelia, and maggie take the kids to the park on their day off, and a stranger takes it upon herself to intervene.
Relationships: Derek Bailey Shepherd & Ellis Shepherd, Derek Bailey Shepherd & Zola Shepherd, Maggie Pierce/Amelia Shepherd, Meredith Grey/Amelia Shepherd, Meredith Grey/Maggie Pierce
Comments: 4
Kudos: 27





	there’s a light in the hallway (so you know i’m here)

**Author's Note:**

> hi!!! i think we all know this year has been ROUGH but i did binge the entirety of grey’s anatomy in an embarrassingly short amount of time and fell absolutely in love with these sisters. their dynamic is genuinely SO important to me and i could not wait to write them. now as the tags say there is a racist scenario that occurs in this chapter. it’s nothing violent, but it does take its toll on one of the characters. i am black and used my own experiences to write this chapter. i think it turned out beautifully. there’s a good mix of soft sister moments and serious talks about serious issues. like i said i adore these three and am feeling VERY compelled to make this into a series. please let me know what you think and maybe i will add more chapters!!! hope you enjoy <3

The sun shines brightly on Seattle as the Grey-Shepherd-Pierce sisters make their way from the car to the park, each with a child in tow. Warm air chilled by intermittent breezes falls upon the variety of adults and children at the park near their home. Giggles and shouts of excitement and warning ring loudly for all to hear. 

At the sight of this, Ellis yanks her hand free from her aunt’s and sprints toward the playground equipment. 

“Ellie!” Amelia shouted before realizing the little girl is already too far gone to hear her. She grins after her spritely niece.

“Zola, go watch after your sister,” Meredith tells the little one holding her hand.

Zola pouts, though, and makes no effort to move. Meredith stops walking and bends to her daughter’s level. Amelia and Maggie follow suit several moments later once their own conversation ends.

“Why can’t Bailey watch her?” she asks persistently.

“Zola, you do not get to talk back to me. When I say do something, you do it. You know that,” Meredith responds incredulously.

“But-“ she begins to argue.

“Plus,” Maggie joins in at a whisper, “I think we both know you’re a  _ much _ better protector than Bailey. We just want Ellis to be safe.”

The look in Zola’s eyes softens at that.

“Okay,” she grumbles and jogs off after her sister.

Maggie turns back to the hopefully unaware Bailey still gripping a couple of her fingers. Sure enough, the five year old is playing his new favorite game of cloud watching and hadn’t heard a word she said. 

“I don’t know how you do that with her,” the eldest of the three sisters says to Maggie as they gravitate toward a park bench.

“Just the perks of being her favorite aunt,” she replies smugly.

Amelia elbows her and feigns shock. “Excuse me?!”

“Yep.” She sits and pulls a still distracted Bailey onto her lap. “It’s a difficult job but someone has to have it.”

“Fine. I’m Ellie’s favorite anyway. I was the first one to feed her those blueberry pop-tarts she’s obsessed with now. That earned me a spot for sure.” She settles in next to Maggie.

Meredith furrows her eyebrows at her sister.

“You told me she got those herself.”

Maggie snorts as Amelia’s eyes widen.

“Well, by ‘got those herself’, I meant-“

“Because I very clearly said that I didn’t want her to have any more sugary snacks,” Mer continues.

“Right! And I heard that-“ Amelia tries again.

“ _ Because _ you and I both know she got Derek’s sweet tooth.” She squints at an apologetic Amelia.

“Sorry?” She offers a cautious smile.

Meredith rolls her eyes and leans against the back of the bench.

“What a pretty day...” Maggie breaks the superficial tension between her sisters for the umpteenth time since she’d met them.

“It is, actually.” Amelia chuckles. “You’re welcome.”

“For?” Maggie and Meredith ask nearly in unison.

“My suggestion to go to the park! Pure genius if I do say so myself.”

“Ah,” Maggie says with understanding.

“Mm.” Meredith responds.

“Mm? What ‘mm’?” Amelia asks.

“I just figured you wanted an hour away from the colicky newborn keeping us up all night, but maybe not.”

“ _ Scout _ is not colicky. He’s just adjusting to his surroundings.”

When she’s met with silence, Amelia continues. 

“Right? Mags, back me up.”

“I-“ She tries. 

“He’s colicky. He’s been adjusting for a month now.” Meredith interrupts.

“Babies do sometimes have difficulty feeling comfortable in their surroundings in the beginning. But-“

“Ha! Told ya, Mer.”

“Yeah, because Maggie’s head of peds.” She scoffs. “Bailey was colicky and so is Scout. You develop an ear for these things.”

“Well, if you want us out of your hair that badly…” Amy half-jokes.

Maggie glares at Meredith behind their sister’s head when she doesn’t immediately refute the statement.

“You’re not taking my nephew anywhere. I’ll lose my shot at being his favorite aunt,” she says sincerely while looking out at her kids on the playground. 

Amelia doesn’t even attempt to hide her grin.

Just as Maggie starts to compliment Meredith on making peace, Bailey reaches up and whispers in her ear.

“Okay! Let’s go,” she replies quickly and gets up, taking his hand. She mouths ‘bathroom’ to the girls and leads him to the park’s public restrooms.

It’s not too far from the playground itself, but she does notice that they’re out of eyesight due to the few turns they had to take. By the time they get there Bailey is bouncing on the balls of his feet and is promptly rushed into the stall. He makes it just in time, and kicks his aunt out immediately. With a chuckle, she stands outside the door patiently.

A woman comes in moments later. She’s older than Maggie. Taller, too. Something about the way her nose is turned up rubs Maggie the wrong way, and she silently wills her nephew to speed up the process. 

“Hi there,” the woman offers, likely as a result of Maggie’s unintentional staring.

“Hi! Pretty day, isn’t it?” 

“Very.” She’d been washing her hands for a little longer than average at this point, which was only slightly curious considering the dirtiness of the average playground. But had she really stopped just to wash her hands, not even to use the bathroom?

“You’re here with your little one?” she questions with an innocent tone.

Maggie ponders the question for a minute. The simplest answer is, “Yes.” and then, “And you?”

“Yes, of course.” Maggie squints at the abruptness of her answer. “My son, Ethan, is out there right now with my husband.

Maggie nods shortly.

“Are you married?” she asks.

“Excuse me?” Maggie could no longer pretend she didn’t know the woman’s intentions. 

“Auntie Maggie?” the little voice says from behind the door she hadn’t budged from in front of.

Maggie glares at the woman once more before going into the stall and helping him finish up.

Bailey flushes the toilet and leaves the stall first. Maggie watches the woman as her suspicions are confirmed. She sighs and hopes the situation does not evolve.

“Ready to wash your hands?” she asks Bailey. At his nod, she picks him up and turns on the faucet. 

“Auntie Maggie?” he asks as she pumps the soap onto his little hands.

“Yes?”

“Why is she staring at us?”

Before Maggie can even respond, the woman speaks up.

“Hi there, I’m Brenda. What’s your name?” She directs her attention to the boy still currently in Maggie’s arms.

He looks at her with consideration, likely remembering the numerous stranger danger conversations he’s had with his mother and aunts.

“Don’t answer her.” Maggie says to him and turns off the water. 

“I didn’t get all the soap off yet!” Bailey exclaims, seemingly oblivious to the woman’s question anyway.

“I know, sweetie, but we’re gonna get back outside so we can play, okay?”

“Okay.” 

As Maggie sets him down and hurriedly grabs a paper towel, Brenda makes her way to the door. Naively thinking she’s leaving, Maggie breathes a sigh of relief. But when she looks up after drying Bailey’s hands, not only is the woman not gone, but she seems to be blocking the exit.

“Is there a problem?” She asks, squeezing Bailey’s hand tightly.

“I don’t know, is there?” Brenda pushes.

“No, there certainly isn’t. Now if you would simply move out of my way-“ Maggie gets closer to her but keeps her nephew positioned carefully behind her.

“Is this woman your real life aunt?” Brenda directs her questions to Bailey once more. 

He peeks out from behind Maggie’s legs, but says nothing.

“Ma’am I really need for you to move away from the exit. We have done nothing to you.” Maggie feels her patience wearing thin. There is no way to tell how escalated this situation could get, and she wants Bailey out of it as soon as possible.

“I’m not so sure about that.” Brenda pulls out her phone to complete an action Maggie is sure has been done several times before.

“Are you kidding me right now? Get out of my way!” Bailey’s grip on her leg tightens at the increase in her volume.

“Not until he answers my questions. Something isn’t right.” The certainty in the woman’s voice is all Maggie needs to know this situation isn’t going to solve itself.

“You’re insane. And neither of us owe you answers.” She shoots back.

Right as Maggie reaches for her own phone, the bathroom door swings open and a concerned looking Amelia appears.

“Maggie?” she asks, looking between a startled Brenda and an enraged expression on her sister’s face. “What’s going on?”

“Is this your son?” Brenda asks, pointing to Bailey.

“Who the hell are you?” Amelia responds, defenses already up, “and what did you say to my sister?”

Brenda blinks with obvious confusion. “Your what?”

It’s then that the pieces fall into place in Amelia’s mind. As unfortunate as it is, Maggie had had this conversation with both her and Meredith. Frankly it sounded unbelievable at the time, but the preparation suddenly proved extremely necessary. 

Black adults with white children raise alarms nationwide. Regardless of the countless logical explanations for such a situation, people often take it upon themselves to assume the worst and function from there. By this point, Maggie had run enough errands with her youngest niece and nephew to know exactly what to expect. And through her teachings, now Amelia does as well.

“My  _ sister _ . But considering it’s none of your goddamn business who we are, I suggest making your way out of this bathroom.” She leans in uncomfortably close to the woman’s face and whispers so Bailey can’t hear. “ _ Before I fucking make it for you _ .”

Only slightly deterred, Brenda walks through the still open door without another word. It takes every ounce of the little self-control Amelia has not to go after her, but she recalls Maggie’s point that escalating situations like these can make them more dangerous, and that’s the last thing any of them need right now. She settles for a mental image of beating the shit out of her, and turns back to Maggie, who’s wearing an expression she can’t quite read.

“Are you okay?” she asks.

“I’m fine.” But the lie is barely concealed. “Come on Bailey, let’s go play, yeah?”

“Yeah!” Thankfully, the entire situation seemed to go over the toddler’s head. 

She leads him out of the bathroom and gives her sister a look that very clearly says ‘Not now’. Amy nods with a small smile and walks with them back to the park. 

They come up on a worried Meredith whose tension instantly eases at the sight of everyone unharmed. Bailey lets go of Maggie quickly as soon as he spots Zola on the swings. 

“Everything alright?” she asks as soon as the girls sit down. 

Maggie looks straight ahead, watching Bailey and Zola in silence.

Amelia looks to her in an attempt to gauge how much she may want Meredith to know at the moment. But she’s met with a blank expression.

“Some lady was  _ blocking _ Maggie and Bailey in the bathroom because she thought Maggie had taken him or some bullshit.” She settles for the truth.

“What?! She did what?! Where? Who was it?” Anger rose in Meredith’s tone instantly. 

Amelia scours the park, secretly wanting to have a conversation of her own with the woman now that Maggie and Bailey are safe. 

“I don’t see her. Older blonde lady about your height. Brown eyes, white sweater.” The latter is mumbled to herself as she continues to look.

Meredith leans up to look at Maggie then, and she finds the same empty look.

“Mags? Are you alright?”

“Ellie looks lonely. I’m going to go play with her.” she responds in an almost automated tone before leaving the bench.

“She wouldn’t talk to me either.” Amelia sighs. “It really shook her up. God, I can’t imagine.”

“Neither can I. I mean I get stares when I’m out with Zola, but nothing like this.” She admits regretfully. Nothing anything like this.”

“I really fucking hate people sometimes.” The frustration is palpable in her tone. Maggie had done absolutely nothing to deserve this. 

“Me too,” Meredith agrees. “Is Bailey alright?”

“Oh, he’s great. Had no idea what was going on.”

Meredith doesn’t respond for a minute.

“Make sure you get through to her. Maggie shouldn’t go through things like this alone,” she explains.

When Amelia turns to her with raised eyebrows, she finishes.

“You’re better with people.”

“People? I dunno. Maggie? Definitely.” Amelia jokingly boasts.

Meredith cracks a smile.

“Just don’t let her bury this.” Her tone turns back serious.

“Yeah, of course.” Amelia watches as her younger sister wipes mulch off of Ellis’ knees with a smile. “I won’t.”

A couple hours later, everyone is back home and Scout is finally down for his nap. Amelia closes the door to the room as softly as possible and tiptoes down the steps. Zola sits on the couch focused intensely on the episode of Doc McStuffins playing on the TV, and Bailey and Ellis are in the kitchen equally as concentrated on the snacks in front of them. 

“How is she?” Meredith asks when she spots her from behind the island. 

Amelia shrugs and leans against the wall. “I was with Scout and Linc. She hasn’t left the room.” 

A glance of concern passes between the sisters once more. Even though the three of them had grown incredibly close over the last few years, this one topic is always a difficult one to approach. There’s just a layer of it that neither of them can fully comprehend. When things like this happen to Maggie, she usually pretends to brush them off until she can’t anymore. The weight is visible to those who love her, though, and today is no different. Maybe she needs a little more time to process, Amelia thinks. 

“Mommy?” Bailey says through a mouthful of cheerios. 

“Hm?”

“Why was Auntie Maggie crying in the car?” he asks, still looking at the bowl.

Meredith looks to Amelia, who shares her shocked expression. But she pulls it together quickly to answer the question as best she can.

“Well,” she moves to him so he will look in her eyes. “Auntie Maggie is a little bit sad today. But she’s going to be okay.”

In response, he boops her on the nose and breaks into a fit of laughter. She sighs with relief at what had clearly been a fleeting thought for the young boy. But when she looks back up to Amelia, the entryway is empty. 

The knock on Maggie’s door is impossibly light. 

“It’s me,” Amelia says softly as she opens the door. 

“What’s the point of knocking if you’re just going to come in anyway?” Maggie asks sarcastically from where she sits upright on her bed. She’d changed out of her park clothes and into the navy blue top affectionately known to Amelia and Meredith as her “sad sweater”. She can work with this. But when Maggie looks at her she misreads the analytical expression as hurt. 

“Sorry,” she says regretfully, “I didn’t mean anything by it.”

Amelia takes this as an invitation to fully enter the room and close the door. Cautiously, she sits on the edge of the bed farthest from Maggie. 

“You don’t need to apologize.” She tries and fails to meet her eyes. “Maggie, what happened today was-”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” The sharpness returns to her voice.

But Amelia knows her sister well enough to hear the hurt behind it, and decides to keep pushing. 

“I think you do,” she responds softly. 

Maggie directs her attention to her hands in an attempt to not to get upset with her sister’s persistence. 

“This isn’t really about what you think, Amelia. This isn’t about you at all.” 

Ignoring her tone once more, she asks, “What isn’t?”

“Will you stop? You can’t trick me into talking. I’m not Bailey.” But as soon as his name leaves her mouth, Maggie’s eyes begin to water. 

Amelia bites her lip as she debates a decision.

“Maggie,” she pleads quietly. But the younger woman only turns her gaze in the opposite direction. 

_ Fuck it _ , Amelia think to herself and crawls over next to where Maggie begins to tremble from holding back tears. As soon as she grabs her hand on top of the covers, a dam breaks and she’s sobbing onto Amelia’s shoulder. The sound shatters Amelia’s heart as she shifts so she’s essentially cradling Maggie and rubbing her back while she cries.

“It’s okay,” she whispers, “I’m right here. Let it out”

She’d known this was coming at some point. There are a multitude of differences between the two of them, but this is one trait they share. Both Maggie and Amelia have a tendency to feel things deeply, and all of those feelings, negative or positive, had to go somewhere. She wouldn’t do this in front of her nephew, so she’d shoved it down as best she could, for as long as she could. But as Maggie’s tears start to soak through her shirt, Amelia realizes this has affected her even more than usual. 

So they sit like that for a while as Amy waits for her to calm down. Besides the occasional low “shhh” there’s no talking between the two. Just a comforting hand and slowly quieting sobs. And if a few tears fall from Amelia’s eyes as well, who could blame her? Maggie’s breathing starts to pick up, though,and Amelia quickly intervenes. 

“Hey, look at me,” she says softly. Maggie sniffs and finally meets her eyes. Amelia smiles at her warmly and wipes a tear off her face. “Breathe.” She inhales and exhales slowly, repeating until Maggie can match her pace. “Good.”

Maggie smiles gratefully as she begins to feel tired from the day’s events. Shifting again so she’s laying in Amelia’s lap, she wipes her face with the sleeve of her sweatshirt and focuses on breathing. 

“Can I?” the voice above her asks politely. 

Knowing what she’s asking from several prior instances, Maggie nods without hesitation. She sighs comfortably as warm fingers begin to make their way through her hair. They’ve done this for each other for a while now during the rough moments. It helps greatly in calming both of them down when necessary. So much so, that when no words had been exchanged for a few minutes afterward, Amelia assumes her sister had fallen asleep and is content with talking to her when she wakes. 

“She followed us,” Maggie says abruptly, startling her. 

“What? She followed us here?” she asks slightly panicked. 

“No, to the bathroom.” Maggie pauses to collect herself. “She saw Bailey with me and was so...concerned, that she took it upon herself to follow us into the  _ bathroom _ and interrogate me in front of my nephew.”

“Not concerned. Ignorant, maybe. Racist, definitely. But she didn’t do anything out of concern, Maggie.” As glad as she is that Maggie is opening up about this, she needs to make sure her own position is clear. 

“I just keep going over, in my head,” She sniffs quietly. “what would have happened if you hadn’t walked in when you did. She was going to call the police, Amelia. She was going to call the police on me for taking Bailey to the bathroom. And it would have only gotten worse from there.”

Amelia continues to massage her scalp in silence. She wishes so badly she could say that wasn’t true, that Maggie was exaggerating, but she isn’t. Not at all. 

“Thank you,” she continues, “For coming in when you did.”

A stray tear falls from Amelia’s eye that she wipes away quickly. 

“My sister senses went off when you guys had been gone for more than, like, ten minutes.”

That earns a light chuckle from Maggie. 

“But I had no idea… I would have come so much sooner, Maggie. I am  _ so sorry _ that this happened. I wish there was something- I just wish I could-”

“I know, Amelia.”

“I love you. And this shouldn’t have happened.”

“I know that too.” Maggie turns so she can look her in the eye and give her a genuine grin, which she proudly returns.

“Do you wanna talk about it some more?” Amelia offers. 

“Not right now. Right now I wanna go hug my nephew and tell him how much I love him,” Maggie says warmly, thinking mainly of how excited Bailey always is to see her, even if they’d only parted minutes before.

“Sounds good to me,” Amelia responds as they both get up. “Then I can get a headstart on being Ellie’s favorite. You’ve already got the first two down, which is very unfair by the way.”

“And I’m coming for Scout next,” she jokes lightly, the sadness in her voice not completely gone but certainly fading. 

“Hey, that's not fair! I can’t be my kid’s aunt!” Amelia pouts as they leave the room. 

Maggie laughs for real this time as she turns to head down the stairs. Amy mentally prepares herself for a race down the steps when she’s almost knocked over by a tight hug. She squeezes back immediately and fights the tears that try to make their way out at the sudden gesture. 

“Love you too,” Maggie whispers. 


End file.
